The Rector’s recommendations regarding resolutions put forth in the Nord University restructuring case

Rollup Image

“This restructuring is about growth.” That is what the acting rector of Nord University Hanne Solheim Hansen said about her recommendations regarding resolutions put forth in the Nord University restructuring case.

Press release from Nord University
21/06/2019

Main body

Solheim Hansen has presented recommendations regarding resolutions put forth by the board in the Nord University restructuring case. The board will consider the case on June 26th 2019. The recommendation is based on the report submitted to the board in April, as well as additional analyses and consultative statements.

"Nord University's locations of study shall be present in all regions within our primary area. These regions are Lofoten/Vesterålen, Salten, Helgeland, Namdalen and Innherred including Stjørdal. This restructuring is about growth", said Solheim Hansen.

The rector recommends that Bodø and Levanger become campuses where further development and consolidation of the university's strongest academic communities shall take place. Vesterålen, Mo i Rana, Namsos, Steinkjer and Stjørdal will be locations of study that provide specialized programmes of study. Nesna and Sandnessjøen are proposed to be discontinued.

"This is about finding the best long-term solution for Nord University. We need more research, we need to have higher and equal quality in education – and we need to re-allocate resources from infrastructure to academic development."

"This recommendation is in accordance with our strategy. By gathering several of our academic communities, we are consolidating our Ph.D programmes and profile areas that include blue and green growth, innovation and entrepreneurship and health, child care and welfare", she said.

"The recommendation will provide good access to education in all regions and we can start the process of gathering the academic communities that will contribute to higher research activity."

"There is high level of local involvement regarding this. The recruitment of teachers and nurses at Helgeland will be safeguarded through this recommendation regarding the resolutions put forth. The same applies to nursing and teaching candidates in the Lofoten/Vesterålen region", says Solheim Hansen.

Namsos will continue with nursing, social education and pharmacy, while the new announcement regarding paramedic studies is postponed. The media programmes in Steinkjer and the theatre programme in Verdal will join the other artistic and creative academic communities in Levanger. Geography and sociology will be moved to the other social science communities in Levanger.

During the consultation period, there were 263 consultative statements, which, according to the Rector, show that the campus structure involves many people in many regions.

"All input has been well received and carefully assessed. This is about creating a holistic structure for Nord University so that we can grow. This also means that it hasn't been possible to take everyone into consideration."

According to the Rector, the recommendation affects around 120 out of a total of 1300 employees. She stressed that the university still requires the skills held by these employees, and that they will do all they can to provide offers to all those affected in the future.

The restructuring period will take up to three years to implement. All student admissions in 2019 will take place as normal.

Proposals regarding the resolutions

1) Nord University shall be present in the following regions with associated locations of study:

Region Salten - location of study Bodø

Region Innherred - locations of study Levanger and Steinkjer

Region Lofoten/Vesterålen - location of study Stokmarknes

Region Helgeland - location of study Mo i Rana

Region Namdalen - location of study Namsos

Værnes region - location of study Stjørdal

Bodø and Levanger, as our largest locations of study in Nordland and Trøndelag respectively, will be called campuses.

Region Salten – Bodø campus

The Rector and management of the Business School and the faculties of Social Sciences, Nursing and Health Sciences and Biosciences and Aquaculture are situated in Bodø

All the faculties have active research communities and normal educational provision in Bodø

The Ph.D programmes are situated in Bodø

The academic communities in Bodø are responsible for distributed educational programmes and support the academic communities at other locations of study

The academic community of teacher training and kindergarten teacher training will be strengthened as a result of the academic communities in Bodø and Nesna being integrated

A stronger academic community will be developed at Nord University in the field of paramedic studies in cooperation with the other ABIOK communities

Region Innherred – Levanger campus

The management of the Faculty of Education and Arts is situated in Levanger

The faculties of Education and Arts, Nursing and Health Sciences and Social Sciences have active research communities and normal educational provision in Levanger

The academic communities in Levanger are responsible for distributed educational programmes and support the academic communities at other locations of study

Co-location of the multimedia programmes from Steinkjer, theatre programmes from Verdal, including the aesthetic and artistic communities in Levanger to strengthen education, research and artistic development work

All of the academic communities and educational programmes associated with the Faculty of Social Sciences in Trøndelag are to be located in Levanger

Region Innherred - location of study Steinkjer

The Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture has active research communities and normal green educational provision in Steinkjer. Both the academic communities and the educational programmes will be strengthened, contributing to the development of InnoCamp

The Business School's academic community and educational programmes are to be continued and strengthened

Region Innherred - location of study Verdal

As a result of the relocation of the theatre programme of study, Nord University has no activities at Verdal and the location of study is to be discontinued

Region Lofoten and Vesterålen - location of study Stokmarknes

The session-based bachelor's nursing programme for Lofoten and Vesterålen is to be continued in Stokmarknes. The academic quality is to be safeguarded through stronger integration of the academic nursing communities in Bodø and Stokmarknes.

Establishment of the session-based master's programme for primary and lower secondary school teacher training for Lofoten and Vesterålen in Stokmarknes is to be coordinated with the programme of study in Mo i Rana. The quality and implementation of the programme is to be maintained by the academic community in Bodø.

Region Helgeland - location of study Mo i Rana

The normal bachelor's degree in nursing is to be continued and the candidate target number increased. The nursing academic community is to be strengthened through the integration of the communities in Mo i Rana and Sandnessjøen.

The academic community and programmes of study within the field of economics are to be continued. Interaction with industrial and research communities is to be further developed.

Continuation of the session-based master's programme for primary and lower secondary school teacher training for the Helgeland region in Mo i Rana is to be coordinated with the programme of study in Stokmarknes. The quality and implementation of the programme is to be maintained by the academic community in Bodø and possibly Mo i Rana.

Region Helgeland - location of study Nesna

Due to the coordination of the academic communities regarding teacher training programmes in Bodø and possibly Mo i Rana, as well as the establishment of Mo i Rana as one of the locations of study, Nord University has no academic activity at Nesna. This location of study is to be discontinued.

Region Helgeland - location of study Sandnessjøen

Due to the coordination of the academic communities regarding nursing programmes in Mo i Rana, Nord University has no academic activity in Sandnessjøen. This location of study is to be discontinued.

Region Namdalen - location of study Namsos

The academic community and the normal bachelor's degree in nursing is to be continued. Capacity will be adjusted according to demand and a reduction of the target number of candidates is being considered.

The academic community and bachelor's degree regarding social education are to be continued. The academic community is to be integrated with the academic communities in Levanger to a greater extent so as to help develop the BSV programmes.

The academic community and pharmacy programme are to be continued. Nord University is to initiate a national assessment of bachelor's degrees in pharmacy in Norway, including Nord University's role and framework conditions regarding this.

Further development of the academic community regarding paramedic studies and scheduled admission to the programme of study is suspended until further notice.

Værnes region - location of study Stjørdal

Further development of the driving instructor programme and associated academic community

Continuation of the MBA programme

To be developed as a centre for additional and further education

2) Mandate - investigate opportunities to develop new knowledge through cooperation between economics subjects and biosciences

The Rector will appoint a work group to determine the opportunities Nord University has in order to establish a national and international position in the field of bioeconomics/circular economics, based on the academic communities found at the Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture and the Business School in Bodø and in Steinkjer. The group will propose one or possibly two profile areas that are realistic to establish in Steinkjer within the field of bioeconomics/circular economics and innovation and entrepreneurship related to green growth. These will be based on the fields of study that are being established in Steinkjer. The investigation should provide an overview of what is required to succeed regarding this type of initiative. The results of this investigation is to be presented to the board in December 2019.

Articles published on www.nord.no may be reprinted with reference to the original source. Images on www.nord.no may not be used without the written permission of the Communications Unit. Nord University takes no responsibility for the content of external websites linked to articles on www.nord.no.